Spring stitch release applicator and method of knitting



May 14, 1957 J GOOD 2,791,896

INVENTOR RagmondJfiood.

2? 0 BY W M ATTORNEYS United States 2,791,896 Fate nted May 14, 195'? Free SPRING STITCH RELEASE APPLICATOR AND METHOD OF KNITTING Raymond J. Good, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Fred C. Good & Sons, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of I Pennsylvania Application December 16, 1955, Serial No. 553,549

7 Claims. (Cl. 66-109) This invention relates to automatic knitting machines and more particularly to an attachment for a standard machine of the flatbed, springbeard needle type.

In recent years, a large number of hosiery machines have been converted to enable the knitting of sweaters and similar heavy gauge fabrics thereon. Within limits, such converted machines give satisfactory operation but there are certain conditions which arise in the knitting of heavier gauge fabrics which create problems not found in the knitting of fine gauge hosiery. A particular problem which arises in this connection, and a solution of which is ofiered by the instant invention, is the slippage of stitches on the needles during the actual knitting process which results in the failure to cast olf one or more stitches in each knitted course. Stated in another way, when a new course of loops has been picked up by the beards of the needles in their downward movement, the loops of the previous course through which the new loops must be drawn by the needles, have a tendency to sag downwardly on the needles to a point which is below that portion of the needle travel, during which the beard is closed by the press edge. When this happens, of course, there is a defect in the knitted fabric in the form of a tuck stitch or a split stitch.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide an attachment for a standard knitting machine which operates to hold the loops of the old courses at a given predetermined point of the needle travel during the actual knitting operation.

A complete understanding of the present invention may be had from reading the following specification, together with the attached sheet of drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a partial vertical section through a standard knitting machine;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, in enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a portion of one embodiment of the attachment which is the subject of the present invention; and

Figure 4 is a modification of the device shown in Figure 3.

In general, a preferred embodiment of the attachment of this invention, as shown in Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, comprises a combdike device which is bolted to the knockover bar in such manner that the tines of the comb are positioned opposite each of the needles, and between the knockover bits.

Referring first to Figure 1, wherein are shown in side elevation partly in section, certain conventional parts of a standard flatbed springbeard needle knitting machine, the knockover bar appears at the lower right-hand corner of this figure and the comb-like attachment 11 shown in plan view in Figure 3 is attached to a surface thereof by machine screws 13A. The ends 14 of the tines 13 of the attachment 11 are bent upwardly at an angle as appears most clearly in Figure 2, so that they will be substantially parallel to the shanks of the needles. The remainder of the parts shown in Figures 1 and 2 will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art as including the sinker head bottom 15, one of the sinkers 16, one of the knockover bits 17, one of the needles 18, a sinker head top 19, and a verge plate 20.

In Figure 2, the knitted loops 21 of the previous course are shown held by the shank of the needle and the loops 22 of the new course are shown within the needle beard. In Figure 2, the needle bar has moved the needles to a position placing them in contact with the press edge 23, closing the beard. At this point, it will be noted that the loops 21 of the previous course are supported directly on the upper surface of the tines 13 of the comb-like attachment 11. In this position, as will be readily apparent from an inspection of Figure 2, they are held above that portion of the downward path of travel of the me dles, during which the beards are allowed to open. Stated in another way, the old loops are held in a position to allow the needles to pass therethrough in that portion of the needle travel when the beards are closed. It is, of course, essential that the needles travel through the old loops during the time that the needle beards are closed in order that the stitches may be properly formed and cast oif. In the absence of a means such as the attachment shown and described herein, the loops of the previous course have a tendency to slip downwardly on the needles and assume the lower dotted-line position as indicated in Figure 2. In this case, the heard of the needle would open before casting ofi the old loops, and either fail to knit off, or possibly the point of the beard might actually split the yarn. In either case, the resulting fabric would be imperfect.

With the use of the present invention, however, the stitches are always held in proper vertical position with regard to the path of travel of the needles during the time in which the beards of the needles are closed, thus insuring proper knitting action.

As an alternative to the device shown and described in Figures 1, 2, and 3, a modification is illustrated in Figure 4. The device shown in Figure 4 is merely a single spring finger 25, a plurality of which would have to be mounted upon the knockover bar at the proper locations in order to achieve the same effect as in the case of the attachment described with reference to Figures 1 to 3. The member 25 includes an upper stitch holding portion 26 bent at an angle to parallel the needlebank and a lower portion 27 for insertion into openings provided in the knockover bar. There are certain advantages to this construction, because in the event of breakage of one of the tines in the device shown in Figure 3, the entire attachment would have to be replaced. If a plurality of individual tines such as shown in Figure 4 were used, however, they could be individually replaced at considerably less expense. The tines shown in Figure 4 may be attached to the knockover bar in any convenient manner. Preferably, however, the surface of the bar is slotted vertically for each tine, and the base of each slot is drilled to receive the lower end of the tine. A simple cover plate may then be applied to hold the tines in place.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that there is herein shown and described a new and useful attachment for those conventional knitting machines which have been modified to permit them to knit coarse gauge fabrics.

While preferred embodiments have been herein shown and described, applicant claims the benefit of a full range of equivalents within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A stitch supporting attachment for a standard flatbed knitting machine of the springbeard needle type, comprising in combination: a comb-like device of resilient material for attachment to the knockover bar, said device including a plurality of tines corresponding in number and spacing to the number of needles in each section of the machine, the thickness of said tines being such as to permit mounting between the knockover bits.

2. In combination with a standard flatbed springbeard needle type knitting machine, resilient means mounted on the knockover bar, and extending upwardly and forwardly between the knockover bits to a point which lies in the path of the downward movement of knitted loops held on the needle shanks to maintain a predetermined vertical position of said loops during the downward travel of the needles as each new course is knitted.

3. In combination with a standard flatbed knitting machine of the springbeard needle type, a plurality of fingers of resilient material, one finger for each needle of the machine, said fingers being mounted on the knockover bar one between adjacent knockover bits and positioned to extend forwardly therefrom into the path of downward travel of the last knitted course of loops held by the needle shanks to hold said loops in a predetermined vertical position during the actual knitting process.

4. An attachment as defined by claim 1, in which the free outer ends of the tines are bent upwardly at an angle to lie substantially parallel to the shank of the needles, when the attachment is mounted on the knockover bar of a standard machine.

5. The combination defined by claim 2, in which the tree outer ends of said resilient means are bent upwardly at an angle to lie substantially parallel to the shanks of the needles.

6. The combination of claim 3, in which the free outer ends of the fingers are bentupwardly at an angle to lie substantially parallel to the shanks of the needles.

7. In the knitting of heavy gauge yarns on a flat bed full fashion machine, the improvement which comprises: positively supporting the loops of a previous course on the needle shanks on means extending between the knockover bits and immediately adiacent the needle shanks at a predetermined level at least during downward knitting movement of the needles to prevent the formation of tuck stitches, split stitches, and thus insure proper casting oil of the old loops on each course.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,850,736 \Vaechtlet Mai. 22, 1932 

